Dancing Harry - Dancing Career

Dancing Career

Dancing Harry first started dancing at basketball games around 1969. The Baltimore crowd was dead, and he had been drinking a few beers when his friends convinced him to dance. While performing in Baltimore, he befriended Monroe. When Monroe moved to play for the Knicks, Cooper followed and brought his act to New York. Late in the 1971–72 season, Cooper asked the Knicks for permission to dance at their games, but he was denied. He went to a Knicks game anyways, arriving at halftime in a game that the Boston Celtics led by 20. The Knicks Willis Reed asked Cooper why he was not dancing. Cooper told him the front office did not approve. "The hell with the front office, Harry. Do something!'", Reed said.

Cooper started dancing, the crowd cheered, and the Knicks eventually won the game. Dancing Harry became a celebrity. He donned outlandish outfits with a black cap, a floppy cap or hat, and often had platform shoes. His hexes excited the crowd and distracted opponents, adding to the Knicks' already formidable home-court advantage. He never received any compensation from the Knicks. In 1973, the Knicks won an NBA championship, but rumors circulated during the playoffs that the Knicks front office was not crazy with Harry. Their owner, Ned Irish, was a traditionalist. When Cooper arrived for 1973–74 season, ushers at the Knicks home at Madison Square Garden told Cooper he could not dance, and he was ejected when he tried anyways.

Cooper took his act to Nassau Coliseum, where he was welcomed by the New Jersey Nets. With Dancing Harry performing, the Nets with star Julius Erving won the 1974 ABA championship. Harry danced for another decade, including a move to Indianapolis, where he became the Indiana Pacers' first mascot and was paid nightly.

The Daily News called Harry a "trailblazer of sorts", as nearly every NBA team by 2003 had a paid squad of dancers, providing entertainment other than basketball as part of the game experience. He also inspired Dancing Barry, who debuted at a Houston Rockets game against the Knicks in the 1975 NBA Playoffs.